Trackage for ceiling type of doors with door-openers



APPLICATION FILED MIIILN'l |920.

Patented May 17, 1921.

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INVENTOR.

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E. LOVEJOYZ TRACKAGE FOR CEILING TYPEOF DOORS WITH DOOR OPENERS. APPLICATION FILED MAR.`27. I92o.

1,378,123. I rammed May 17,1921..

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TRACIKAGE FOR CEILING TYPE OF DOORS WITH DOOR-OPENERS.

Application filed March 27,

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER' LovEJoY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Laramie, in the county of Albany and State of Wyoming, have invented a new and useful Improvement inAT'rackage for Ceiling Type of Doors with Door-Openers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a novel track and door opener attachment for opening any door from Vertical to horizontal, operating the door by power one way and by gravity the other, and in whlch the power used to open the door may be manual or mechanical. It is a further obj ect of my invention to provide a novel construction by means of which large doors may be opened from a vertical to and held in a horizontal position, thereby not requiring much vertical space for opening the door. It is further my object to arrange and adapt my door` opener for operation in connection with the angle track and other parts disclosed; and to provide the novel combination and arrangement of elements hereinafter claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the invention, partly in section, in the door shown, in dotted lines, in partly closed position, and in full lines in open position;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the invention taken from the opposite Side. from Fig. 1, partly in section;

Fig. 5 is a top plan of the means for operating the cable that raises and lowers the door; and

Fig. 6 is a detail elevation view of slidable wheel 42 permitting of sidewise play of cable 16.

Like numerals designate like throughout the several views.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which the invention is illustrated as applied to a garage door opening from vertical to horizontal, the door 1 is provided with suitable V`bracket 2, on which is parts mounted a track bar roller 3, riding on the track bar 4, .said bar 4 being attached toa suitable supporting bar 5, the trackage being further supported by a suitable link 6 Specification of Letters Patent. Patented My 17 1921.

1920. Serial N0. 369,346.

connected to the ceiling 7 Mounted on the lower edge of door 1 is a door guide roller 8, traveling in the door guide channel 9 of the door frame 10. 'These parts are duplicated on either side of the door. Attached at 14 to V-bracket 2, I provide a suitable cable 12, extending over rollers 13 and 11, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, and carrying a counter-weight 15. Attached to the lower end of door 1 by a suitable attaching device 17, such as the eye-bolt shown, I provide a suitable cable 16 attached to and adapted to be wound on drum 18 of the door opener mechanism. The counterweights 8 do not overbalance the weight of the door but operate merely .to lighten the power required to be exerted by the door opener. The door 1, by reason of the weight of members 8 and 17, will tend to return from horizontal to vertical position by gravity when tension on cable 16 is released from the door opening mechanism.

This invention is an improvement upon and incorporates the electrically operated door opener disclosed in my prior Patent 1,289,211. It includes a suitable electric motor 19, operatively connected by suitable gearing 23 with the drum 18 on which cable 16, which is attached to the lower end of and lifts the door 1, is wound. Drum 18 and motor 19 and the related parts are mounted on a suitable frame 24. Also mounted on this frame is a T-arm 20 linked to a suitable electric switch 25, by which the electric motor 19 is thrown into and out of operation. I provide a suitable brake shoe 26 adapted to engage and arrest the operation of a drum 27, operatively connected by the gearing 23 with the cable drum 18. Brake shoe 26 is connected by a suitable crank 28 .with the end of T-arm 20 at 29, the T-arm 20 being pivotally mounted at 29 to the frame 24. T-arm 20 is normally held in lowered position by a spring 31, attached to a depending bracket 32 carried by frame 24, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. Attached to T-arm 20 are provided suitable cables 21, extending over pulleys 22, the lower end of `this cable extending down where itmay be grasped by the person desiring to enter the building, thus enabling him to open the garage door without getting out of his automobile. The operation of T-arm 20 is regulated by suitable.

spring controlled latch mechanism 33, the

latches of which are adapted to engage and disengage a slot 34 in the end of the T-arm, as shown in Fig. 4. I further provide a suitable regulating bar 35, having adjustable stops 36, this bar being connected by suitable gearing and shaft member 37 with the cable drum 18. Member 35 carries a resetting arm 38, which-operates a bent rod 39, which is in operative connection with and controls the operation oit *the latch y mechanism 33, whereby to control the operation of the latches. The regulation of the latches is further adjusted by the triangular member 40, which is in operative connection with studs 41 on the T-arm 20.

In operation, a pull on cable 21 raises the T-arm 20 from its lowermost position until the slotted end 34 is engaged by the upper latch of the latch mechanism 33. As the T-arm 2O is thus raised, it operates crank 2S and releases brake shoe 26 from its engagement with brake drum 27, and at the same time closes the electric switch 25, which sets the motor in operation and through the gears that operatively connect the 'motor 19 `with the cable drum 18, causes the cable drum to wind the cable 16 and thus raise the door 1. The dropping of the T-arm causes the resetting of the latch mechanism 33 as a stud carried by the T-arm strikes the adjacent slanting edge of the triangular member 40, operating it in a direction away from the drum 27 and in turn operating bent rod 39, which actuates the latch mechanism 33. As the brake drum is rotated to unwind the cable 16 and lower the door 1, the shaft 37 is rotated through its gear connections tothe drum, and the sliding rod 35 is driven in a direction away from the drum, with the result that the adjustable collars 36 and 38 carried on sliding rod 35 are brought into contact with the arresting arm which moves that member and the bent rod 39 to which the arresting arm issecured and which -arm is limited in its movement by the collars 36 and 38. The members 40, 38, 36, 35 and 37 are utilized to regulate or adjust the range of operation of the cable drum 18 for stoppin the door at any desired point automatlcally, throughaction on the 'T-arm and the connecting switch and brake mechanism above described, and as pointed out in detail in my Patent 1,289,211. The door is raised by cable 16, and guided by rollers 3, carried by bracket 2, and traveling on the inclined or angular track 4, permit the door to swing from a vertical to a horizontal position as it is raised, the lower end of the door being guided by the guide rollers 8 in the channels 9 on either side of the door. The rollers 8 and the eye-bolt 17 are suii ciently weighed to overbalance the door and cause it to return to lowered position by gravity when tension on cable 16 is reto more quickly return from horizontal to y vertical position by gravity when tension on cable 16 is released.

It is also within the contemplation of my invention to adapt my track structure and its arrangement with the door opening mechanism so as to operate and open doors at any desired angle; also to adapt my invention to operating horizontal types of doors with counter-weights and electrically operated automatic door opener described and illustrated.

What I claim is:

1. In an automatic power operated door opener of the type described, the combina` tion of spaced inclined tracks arranged adjacent the doorway, rollers adapted to ride on said track, said rollers being mounted at a point substantially equally distant from the top and bottom of the door, guide rollers carried by the lower edges of the door and adapted to travel in vertical guide channels, channeled members on either side of the door for guiding the said'rollers, counter.- Weights operatively attached to the door at a point equally distant from the top and bottom thereof to render its operation easy, and a cable for raising the door, said cable being attached to the lowerI portion of the door.

2. In an apparatus of the type described, the combination of a door, means for mounting the door and permitting lof its being elevated from vertical to substantially horizontal elevated position, said means including inwardly slanting tracks, guide rollers attached to the door and riding on said tracks, said rollers being positioned substantially equally distant from the top and bottom of the door, means for counterweighting the door, an automatically controlled electric power apparatus, a cable operated by said apparatus, said cable being attached to the lower portion of the door, said power apparatus including a pull cable for starting same.

3. In a power operated door opening apparatus of the type described, the combination of a door arranged to be swung from vertical to a horizontal elevated inward position, automatic electrically actuated door opening mechanism supported above the door, a pull cable suspended from said apparatus and arranged to set same in operation, a cable connected vwith the lower portion of the door and actuated by the power apparatus, rollers mounted o-n the edges of the door substantially midway from top and bottom, tracks disposedy to carry said iso rollers and permit the door to be swung from closed to open horizontal position, guide rollers attached to the lowermost edges of the door and overbalancing same, and means for counterweighting the door.

4. In an apparatus of the power operated type described, the combination of a door, power operated means for swinging the door upward and inward from vertical to substantially horizontal position, guide rollers carried by the edges of the door substantially midway from top and bottom, tracks for said rollers, said tracks being inclined to permit of the swinging inward of the door to its horizontal elevated position, and guide rollers attached to the bottom of the door, said guide rollers riding in a vertical direction to guide. the bottom of the door substantially as described.

5. In a power operated apparatus of the type described, the combination of a door, means for swinging the door from vertical to an inward substantially horizontal ele.

vated position, said means including a cable operatively connected with power apparatus and attached to the lower portion of the door, slanting tracks adjacent the door, guide rollers mounted on the edges of the door approximately equally distant from top and bottom and riding on the aforesaid tracks, means for guiding the bottom of the door in a direct vertical direction as it is elevated, automatic power apparatus to which the cable attached to the door is connected for operating the door, manually operated means for setting said apparatus in operation, whereby the door may be opened by power and closed by gravity, substantially as described.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, a door, track means for guiding the door from one position in which it is closed to another position in which it is opened, rollers attached to the edges of the door at a point approximately equally distant from top and bottom of the door, said rollers riding on the aforesaid track means, counterweights operatively connected to the door to facilitate its operation, a cable attached to the door for opening same, a cable drum to which said cable is attached, a motor, a train of gears connectin the cable drum and motor, an electric switc to control the operation of the motor, a pivoted arm conequally distant from top and bottom of the door, said rollers riding on the aforesaid track means, said door being operable in any predetermined direction, a pivoted arm controlling the operation of the aforesaid elec- .j

trically controlled means for opening the door, latch members arranged to engage the pivoted arm to hold it in predetermined position, means operatively connecting the latch members with the door, said means including adjustable devices carried by the aforesaid means and positioned to operate the latch membersr at the desired time, a cable operatively connected with the pivoted arm and disposed for manual operation to set the opener in operation, whereby the door may be opened by power and closed by gravity by pulling the last mentioned cable.

8. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of inclined tracks arranged adjacent a doorway, adoorcarrying rollers positioned substantially midway of the side of the door adapted to ride on the aforesaid tracks when the door is raised and lowered, guide rollers carried by the lower end of the door and adapted to travel in vertical channels, said guide rollers overbalancing the door, vertically channeled members on either side of the doorway for guiding said guide rollers, counterweights operatively connected with the door at a point equally distant from the top and bottom thereof for rendering its operation easier, cables con necting the counterweightsl and the door, and pulleys positioned near the' outer'ends of the inclined tracks and near the upper ends of the vertical guide channels for guiding the cables to which the counterweights are attached.

{ELMER LovEJoY. 

